The nomad boy
by Jadaaa
Summary: An adventurer, engaged, but with a troubled heart, a young man unsure wheather to fight for his people or the people he swore to protect, a young princess pregnant out of wedlock, a kingdom on the brink of war. Malink Zelink


**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own LOZ or any of it's characters.**

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><p>It was a nice warm spring afternoon in Hyrule, and many of Hyrule's teen inhabitants all seemed to gather around at Lake Hylia for a good time. Even two young lovers who were usually busy tending to their ranch duties found the time for a nice romantic evening at the lake.<p>

The pretty young red headed girl dipped her feet in the crystal clear water of Lake Hylia, while her blonde companion lay right beside her, fast asleep. She couldn't help but smile when she looked over at him, her life couldn't be any more perfect, she dreamed of one day being owner of Lon Lon ranch and of meeting the love of her life, being a wife and someday mother. Malon looked down at her hand, at the glistening gold band on her wedding finger and grinned. The nomadic adventurer was finally hers, as she always belonged to him.

Not many girls at the age of 17, like Malon, had achieved what she had. When her father handed her the ranch, she worked hard to make it a thriving success. Lon Lon milk became the number one selling milk brand at local shops, and so were all Lon Lon products. They were labeled as the freshest in all of Hyrule. With all the extra money coming in, she invested in a horse riding class, and it became an instant success; even the royal family was interested in having Malon as their head stable girl at the Royal stables. Life just couldn't get any better for the red head.

She softly stroked her lover's cheek, her creamy white skin against his golden tan. Link was an extremely attractive man, from his soft sandy blonde hair, down to his very cut body, also one of the reasons Links horse-riding class was always packed with young girls and some older women. She chuckled, for once; it felt nice to be the envy of so many girls.

Link squirmed around for a bit and yawned widely before slowly opening his big blue eyes, he smiled up at the pretty girl sitting next to him with the long soft flaming red hair, big beautiful blue eyes and the cutest little freckles sprinkled on her cheeks and nose.

"Good morning baby." Said Link, stretching, Malon laughed.

"You've been asleep for 2 hours Link!" She gave him a weak little punch on his shoulder. He sarcastically gasped, "Looks like I'm going to have to teach you a lesson for that!" Malon seriously looked at Link for a second before slapping her hand in the water and splashing him, she got up and ran laughing hysterically. Link got up and dried his face with his hat before chasing after her and quickly catching up; he grabbed her waist, spun her around and drew her closer to him. He looked down at the significantly shorter girl, and he kissed her.

"I'm sorry I fell asleep on you during our probably only day off." Malon brushed the hair from his face and gave his plump lips a peck, she knew Link was tired; he would help out all day at the Ranch and all night at town as a night watch guard. She knew how badly he had wanted to save up his rupees to buy her the engagement ring she wanted, and to be a good provider for them when they wed.

"It's ok love; I know how hard you work." He gave her lips another peck and grabbed her hand, "It's getting late love, we better find Epona and head home before I'm late for work." They walked over the two shaky bridges and around the crowds of people who were still enjoying their day at the lake. Many were diving off the bridges, or sitting around with large groups of friends having a picnic, then, there were the madly in love couples who would sit around and make out, they brought back memories of when she would sneak out of the middle of the night with Link, and they would talk and kiss, as they got older, the kissing got more passionate and so did their feelings for each other.

They soon approached coffee colored horse, with the shiny blonde mane. Link's other love, Epona. Malon mounted her first and Link sat behind her, holding on to the reigns and kissing her neck at the same time. They slowly rode home, enjoying how beautiful the fields looked during sun set. The sky was a pinkish purple shade, with a bit of orange in the distance, it was like a painting.

"Sometimes I wish you didn't have to work so much, so we could have more time together, even if it's at night…like before…" She felt Link's warm breath on her ear and got goose bumps, after such a lovely day with him, she wanted a romantic night with him as well.

"I know, but we were kids before, with not a lot of responsibility, now I have to work to support my future wife and soon we can start a family, and I've got to be prepared for that." Malon grinned; she loved hearing Link talk about starting a family, especially since it took her so long to convince him she wanted kids soon after they were to wed.

"I can't wait for us to start our little family soon. If it's a girl I want to name her Leila or Madeline."

"What about a boy?"

"Link…like his father." Link smiled, and they both rode in silence, enjoying the scenery, giving Malon kisses from time to time. He seemed like an extremely secure man, ready to get married and take on the responsibility of starting a family, but deep down, and it scared him. He met Malon at the age of 10 and they became good friends. For the following 8 years after that, Link never settled anywhere; he spent nights in town, sometimes in Kakariko, even on Death Mountain. He always took on several jobs around Hyrule, but never stayed in one place. Link was a loner with nomadic tendencies, very different from the comfy family life Malon lead. The blonde never thought he would settle down so young and the thought of children never crossed his mind.

At the age of 16, he developed more than a friendship for Malon, finally returning Malon's romantic gestures; however the relationship had many ups and downs, more downs. She wanted him to settle down, his unwillingness to do so, broke her heart, and after many arguments and tears shed for him, he changed. He started working at the Ranch, not for money, but to help out the girl he cared for and who cared for him so much, the only person, who from the age of 10 always welcomed him into her home. He wouldn't let down the person who never gave up on him, after all, that's the least he could do.

For the following 2 years, Link helped with the major success of Lon Lon Ranch, became close with Malon's family and asked her father Talon, for her hand in marriage. From the outside looking in, everything seemed perfect, he had a pretty woman on his side that was in love with him from the day they met, a family, and a home, but the adventurer in Link never died. He never truly felt at home at the ranch, the nomad in him, the nomad that is him, still longed to travel, to explore, and deep down, it troubled him. He owed it to Malon to make her happy. He would make her happy. Even if that meant putting his desires on the backburner.

After nearly an hour and a half, the sun completely set and the pinkish purple shade changed to a dark blue, with specks of glitter everywhere. They approached the ranch and were greeted by Talon and several of the ranch hands asking them how their day went. The lovers dismounted Epona, Malon eagerly began telling the girls how romantic their date was and walked off, looking back and smiling at her boyfriend. Link blew a kiss at her and waved good-bye as he was off to work. He grabbed his satchel, mounted Epona again and rode off to town. He rode fast, racing Epona across the vast Hylian field and slowed down as he approached the bridge.

"Man, you're late; I have to close the bridge soon, hurry up!" Said one of Link's best friends; Eliah, from the lookout tower above. Link dismounted Epona and hitched her where the other horses were; he entered the tower and greeted his friends, who were sitting around a table drinking and playing cards. Despite being night time, it was always pretty slow being on field lookout. He climbed the stairs to meet Eliah, who was sitting on the town wall, looking up at the sky.

"I took your armor from your cubby so that Kairo doesn't find out that you're late once again." Eliah quickly smiled and frowned, Link laughed. "You're the man!"

"Yeah, yeah, hurry up and strap up so that we can protect the people of Hyrule." Said the brunette dryly, Link laughed as he slipped into his uniform. It consisted of skin tight gray shorts, just above the knee, black boots, a skin tight gray tunic shirt and chest and shoulder armor with a red image of the triforce on it. Eliah jumped up and signaled the guards on the tower across from them. The brunette and the blonde pulled the bridges' chains with the help of the other tower and successfully closed the bridge.

"I reckon that's about as much action as we're going to get tonight", said Eliah taking a drink from his flask and sitting back down. Link put up his belongings on the rack and noticed an empty bottle of whisky next to Eliah's stuff.

"Man, you really have to calm down with that drinking! It's going to get you in trouble one day if it doesn't get you killed." Eliah laughed taking another big sip and putting his flask back in his satchel, "I always thought the fact that I was half Gerudo would get me killed faster around here." The Gerudo were people not to be trusted around Hyrule, often, when a Gerudo was in town, people get uneasy and grip their wallets a bit harder. The Gerudo, however, were naturally a very attractive race, and despite all the warnings, they always seemed to get what they wanted, especially from men.

Eliah was the product of a very attractive and seductive Gerudo woman, sleeping with a Hylian royal night to rob him, not only did she make away with all the knight's money, but also his child. Eliah never met his father; his mother raised him alone, with the Gerudo woman. Having grown up in an environment surrounded by women, Eliah was a well-known womanizer, and very good at it. Many men worshipped him; others envied or despised him, either because they had no luck when it came to ladies or because Eliah had slept with their wife or sister.

Eliah looked like a Gerudo in many ways, despite being half Hylian. He was tall, more like a Hylian, had short brunette hair, unlike the Auburn color that all Gerudo have, but he was golden bronze in color, and had piercing golden honey eyes just like the desert dwellers, many say, he got the best of both races.

Link walked over to his best friend and took a seat next to him, facing the vast open plains of Hyrule. "Being killed isn't the only thing being Gerudo will get you around here." Winked Link, Eliah laughed. "So I met this girl last night at the tavern, beautiful girl, blonde, busty, blue eyes; some guy was messing with her and I put my arm all over her and said, 'Hey love I told you not to be out without me at places like this.' So the guy leaves her alone, and she tells me, 'Thank you I owe you.' She tries to hand me some rupees so I tell her, 'Tell you what, keep that money, and let me buy you a drink.' We talked, we drank, we fucked, and damn! These Hylian girls know what they're doin, let me tell you that!"

"Who was she?" asked Link.

"Who knows. I should've asked. She would have been a nice lay when I have duty down there." Link looked at the smirk on Eliah's face and laughed, shaking his head.

"How's the wife?" asked Eliah.

"Good…"

"You don't talk about her much…for a guy who's engaged"

Link sighed, "Sometimes I wonder what I'm doing, it's not that I don't love her, I do, but, I want more than just to get married, have children and live a quiet boring life…"

"Maybe you don't love her, you just feel like you owe her that." Said the brunette; raising a brow.

"N—no I do, I just don't want that life, at least not yet."

"Maybe you don't want that life with her."

"It's not that." Replied the blonde; staring blankly ahead at the quiet field.

"Face it man, she's B-O-R-I-N-G. Simple as that. Nice girl, but has a boring life, wants a boring life, dreams of that boring life with a boring man, a man that is not you." Link bit his bottom lip, maybe Eliah was right, but then again, what did he know about love?

The two young men were interrupted by the sound of several horses galloping their way and a man's voice calling everyone out. They looked at each other and headed downstairs and outside along the other guards. The man whose voice they heard belonged to a large tall man with a snow white beard named Kairo. Kairo was head of all town guards, being a Royal Knight retiree. He was riding his white stallion accompanied by two Royal Knights, it was rare when a Royal Knight was seen away from the castle grounds.

"Men I have news, the Royal family, because of rising crime around the Kingdom, has requested extra protection, this is a good chance to become one of the admired Knights of Hyrule, however I have only selected my best guards for this golden opportunity. Rio, Abraham, Eliah, Seith, Link, Jason, Sean, Harlow and Thor, please, step up. Link and Eliah looked at each other smiling. Being a part of the Royal Knights meant not only more respect, but more rupees. All 9 men stepped up, apart from the rest and one of the knights spoke up, "You men have been selected for your excellent skills, however this does not guarantee you will be a knight, there is much training involved and it is not simple. Tomorrow afternoon at 5 o' clock, present to the castle grounds if you are interested for your training. Do not be late." The two knights looked at each other and rode their horses off back to the castle. Kairo dismounted his horse, "Boys, you heard the man, be there early, this is an excellent opportunity for you and DO NOT make me look bad!" He patted Thor on the back, who was grinning like a little girl trying on a princess dress.

"Now get back to work!"

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><p><strong>Authors note: <strong>This is my first fanfic so plz no flames! I do, however, appreciate criticism :) Please R&R and also later in the chapters as the characters develop more, feel free to let me know who you would like to see together!


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